Improvement in curing tobacco



' 2 sheet-Sesma 1'. f

B. Af 'DAVIS. Curing Tobacco'.

vParenteel Noy. 5, 1867.-

| v I.. Il/ /b Sg A. DAVISI Curing.- Tobacco. N0 70,420- Patented Nov. 5, 1857.

N. PETERS. Phuln-Limugnplwr. wnshinglun. 0.1:.

exposed and liable to be wet by the rain or ',whichevaporates from the green tobacco when y 1n the process of curing.

' vmy new process, I will describe it more in detall, referring to the drawings and to the lete 'ters of reference marked thereon.

` in form to the ordinary green-house. The front -lace the glass covering C Gg() on an inclina- A ion of about forty-live degrees. Under' the UNITED il STATES PATENT Gamen.

BENJAMIN A. DAVIS, 0F PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA.

IMPRVENIENT l CURING TOBACCO.

Specication formiiig part of Letters Patent No. 70,420, dated November 5, 1867.

To all whom it may oonceraf Be it known that I, BENJigliMIN A. DAVIS, ofthe city of Petersburg, in the county of Din- Widdie, State of Virginia, hajile invented a new and useful'Mode of Curing n obacco; andI do hereby declare that the folldving is a full and exact description of the contruction and operation of the same, referenti` being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of the specication, in which Figure l represents a front elevation, showing the inclined glass roof, with the lower slide or hinged doors for admitting air to the interior ofthe building. Fig.2 shows an end view ot' the structure. Fig. 3 shows a broken-0H View ot the upper portion df the rear elevation, with the slide or hinged doors for ventilating. Fig. 4 shows a broken-off view of the end and entrance to the drying-room. Fig. 5 shows a cross-section through the interior of the drying-room. Fig. 6 sholws a longitudinal section through the same. 7 is a plan of the` ground floor, showing4 the heatingpipes and furnace. l

The object of my invention is to facilitate the process of curing tobaccdby the suns rays without having to handle it aiid take it in when heavy dew. il

My invention consists int, drying tobacco under a glass roof placed on 'an angle of about forty-five degrees, facing the south, so as to get as much of the vsuns rays as possible, and providing the room with opelnings and shutters, both front and rear, near"` to the glass roof, so that a current of air may pass through to ventilat'e the room and carryoff the moisture To enable others to construct my improved barn or drying-house and to.cure tobacco by The same letters indicate the same parts in all of the figures. "i

` The barn or drying-house A may be built or south side, B B, may be glow, in order to eaves I have a series of openings, with sliding or hinged shutters a aa, forI the purpose of admitting air from the outside to the tobacco when necessary. In a similar position to the roof, on the rear side, D, I have also a corresponding series of openings, with shutters or doors d d d, for the purpose of ventilating and ,carrying oif the moisture evaporated from the tobacco. The building may be of any required dimensions, and the roof or glass covering may be supported by timbers o e, placed longitudinally under the rafters f f f j', or timbers, in which the glass is set, they being suitably grooved for that purpose, the timbers e cbeing held up in theirplace by a series of vertical posts, h h l1., which also form supports for-the necessary apparatus to hang the tobacco for curing. Y

The advantages of my improved method of curing tobacco by the rays of the sun will `be readily seen and easily understood, the heat under glass being much more intense, and is retained long after the sun has gone down, and even for days when the sun is not shining. The doors can be closed to keep out the damp atmosphere 'in rainy weather, and the process completed generally without artificial heat, the process above `described being sp much more expeditious than other modes known and practiced that the first cuttingsl can be hung up and cured in time for the secheater-pipes I I Iextending round the area of the door K K of the building, so that at such times the curing process can be kept up by ar tificial means and no time lost in getting the crop ready for the market. i

It is desirable to have the buildings for the process of curing tobacco in the manner above described constructed of brick, with a brick oor, asit receives and retains the heat from artificial means' or the suns rays much better, and longer than when made of wood. The up= I per portion of the roof E E may be covered pose of admitting air, Ventilating, and carry- With wood-,any desired portion of it-as the ing olf the evaporation from tobacco While in suns'rays will not produce any beneficial efthe process of curing, as herein described. feet in the extreme upper portion of the room, 2. The process of drying or curing tobacco where it is designed to be opened for ventilaunder a glass roof, substantially in the mantion. ner herein described.

Having thus fully described my invention A f what I claiml as new, and desire to secure by B' A' DAYIS' Letters Patent, is- Witnesses:

1. The openings, with their covers, close un- T. H. THOMPSON,

der the roof, bot-h front and rear, for the pur- O. P. BRITTON. 

